Wu Ya'er's voice was very loud, and the entire class had already learned from the siblings, Wu Xiaoxiao and Wu Ya'er, that Lu Wu would be taking the assessment.
So the whole classroom came alive.
A second person in their class was taking the assessment. Nobody had expected that.
And it was a guy who liked skipping class and getting into fights, at that.
"Something just occurred to me." Wu Ya'er seemed to realize something. Ignoring Wu Xiaoxiao's glare entirely, he analyzed it aloud. "In that case, when Brother Lu Wu beat those three until they were looking for their teeth all over the floor today, he didn't use magic. He was already going extremely easy on them!"
Wu Ya'er really hadn't expected Brother Lu Wu, whose reputation was usually poor, to show such restraint.
He was just too cool.
Brother Lu Wu, you're my idol!
"Mages aren't allowed to attack ordinary people," Wu Xiaoxiao said.
"You wouldn't fight back if they attacked you?" Lu Wu countered. "The convention imposes restrictions, but that doesn't mean we actually have to let ourselves be captured without a fight."
Surely, if an ordinary person came at you with a knife, you weren't really forbidden from fighting back.
"Of course I would." Wu Xiaoxiao naturally understood the stakes. "We shouldn't hurt people unprovoked."
"Then what are you going on about?" Lu Wu asked.
"I just wanted to tell you not to slap your face swollen to pass yourself off as someone important and end up disgracing our class. Your skipping classes and fighting have already seriously affected the reputation of our class and our school." Unable to refute what Lu Wu had said, Wu Xiaoxiao changed the subject.
"Don't worry. There are people every year who take the assessment and can't even cast their magic, but I definitely won't be one of them."
"Good." Wu Xiaoxiao nodded at that. "You don't need to perform especially well. Even if you only manage to cast it on your third attempt, that's fine. All I ask is that you don't disgrace our class."
Actually, when she had learned from their homeroom teacher, Jia Wenshang, that Lu Wu would be taking the assessment, Wu Xiaoxiao hadn't quite known how she felt.
There was some disbelief, some unwillingness to accept it, and some discomfort, but also a little anticipation.
Out of all the people in their class, she had originally been the only one eligible to participate. Having another person compete for honors for their class was something worth being happy about.
But that person was actually Lu Wu, who hadn't even been attending lessons.
She had long heard that Lu Wu had gotten into fights in middle school and been a regular visitor to the school infirmary. And now, here he was, doing it at school again.
Hearing Wu Xiaoxiao's words, Lu Wu didn't want to bother with her at all.
What kind of person was she?
Skipping class didn't mean he didn't know the material being taught, and the school's punishment for his truancy had been to cancel the cultivation time with the Stardust Magic Tool that he had previously earned.
The school hadn't expelled him because many students did stop spending their time at school once they reached their second or third year.
After all, the training grounds were only so large. Although they could accommodate many people casting magic to cultivate, there were always quite a few who preferred going out for actual combat.
Some people joined the City Demon Hunting Squad or demon-hunting teams after gaining proficient control over their magic. Some even died outside school.
First-year students who didn't attend lessons were indeed rare, and there had never been anyone quite like him.
But his eligibility to participate had already been confirmed. He had said so himself, and Teacher Jia had informed Wu Xiaoxiao-not so she could come tell him not to slap his face swollen to pass himself off as someone important by taking the assessment for no reason.
Seeing that Lu Wu wasn't speaking, Wu Xiaoxiao pursed her lips and left.
"Brother Lu Wu, you really are something. You're the only person in class who dares talk to her like that." Watching Wu Xiaoxiao leave, Wu Ya'er came over to Lu Wu and spoke quietly.
"Are you all that afraid of her?" Lu Wu looked at Wu Ya'er. Even in this brief encounter, he had noticed that Wu Ya'er was indeed very afraid of Wu Xiaoxiao.
"She bullied me at home, and then I got into this school only to end up in the same class as her." At Lu Wu's words, Wu Ya'er's face filled with anguish.
Those were all memories too painful to look back on.
Whose older sister grabbed her little brother and beat him up at every opportunity, from childhood onward?!
The thing was, when he was little, he couldn't beat her because he was young. Now that he had grown up, his talent wasn't as good as hers, so he stood even less of a chance.
He could let what happened in childhood slide, but now he was, at the very least, a proper, full-fledged boy. He had his pride.
"She's your sister?" Lu Wu raised an eyebrow. "You two have pretty different personalities."
"Yeah, Brother Lu Wu. If you can subdue my sister, let me follow you." Wu Ya'er spoke frankly. "I've figured it out. She's a little wary of you."
"Don't go saying things like that. I'm not interested in your sister."
"It's fine if you don't want her, too. During the assessment competition, you won't be fighting each other, but as long as your score is higher than hers, that'll do."
"..."
Realizing that Wu Ya'er genuinely wanted to see his sister suffer a setback, Lu Wu found it hard to imagine what this kid had been through.
But aside from Wu Ya'er, very few of the classmates around him dared strike up a conversation with him.
It seemed he couldn't just get into fights. Look, his reputation was ruined.
Not good. Not good at all.
A few days later.
For once, Lu Wu hadn't been skipping class. Apart from cultivating, he came to lessons. Unfortunately, those lessons were all far too simple.
If Mu Nujiao hadn't insisted, Lu Wu would have thought he was better off skipping them.
Time passed quickly, and the day of the assessment competition arrived.
Although it was called an assessment competition, everyone was actually assessed individually, with several teachers scoring them to determine their rankings. They wouldn't be fighting.
The training grounds at Magic City Seventh Magic High School were enormous, large enough to hold several thousand people.
Of course, although the training grounds were large, the areas available for simultaneous magic training could only accommodate fifty people.
Everyone else could only watch from the stands.
After all, each person needed a sufficiently large training area. Some were very open, while others contained many dummies.
There were twenty open areas for students with non-offensive types of magic to train in, while the remaining thirty were for students with offensive types.
Lu Wu and Mu Nujiao headed toward the offensive training areas together.
"Lu Wu, you'd better give it your all, kid. I took responsibility for that fight you got into a while ago." Jia Wenshang nodded at Lu Wu.
To ensure fairness, the school didn't allow teachers onto the grounds unless they were judges.
Lu Wu nodded. "Don't worry, Teacher Jia. I won't make you look bad."
After Lu Wu and Mu Nujiao entered the grounds, Wu Xiaoxiao and the others arrived one after another as well.
"You're all good children, the pride of our school! Today is the day of the first-year assessment competition. Allow me to introduce today's judges..." The head judge was the school's dean of students, Cai Jianwen.
He was somewhat plump, with very sparse hair. One glance was enough to tell that he was a man of extensive learning.
There were three judges in total this time. One was from the school, while the other two were mages from outside.
One of the two outside judges was burly, with somewhat dark skin and a short buzz cut, and stood ramrod straight.
The other seemed to be a teacher from a sister school that had a good relationship with theirs.
Both were alumni who had graduated from this school. The former was Military Mage Hei Guan.
"Finally, I won't say much more. The rules for this competition are very simple. Students with damaging abilities should choose a training area and cast magic at a wooden dummy. We'll score you based on how much damage the dummy sustains. Wind Element students will need to use Wind Track to move across an open area. As for students with elements such as the Water Element and Light Element, we'll assess your defensive power and casting speed..."
Cai Jianwen had quite a lot to say. Below, almost everyone understood the rules.
Lu Wu had awakened the Fire Element, so naturally, he would be attacking a wooden dummy.